Fighting Fit – LTCOL Gordon Wing MBBS

‘You don’t need to be dead to sell life insurance.’ In this week’s episode, we talk about how to look after yourself and those that you command. Our guest this week is the Senior Medical Officer (SMO) for the Directorate of Army Health – LTCOL Gordon Wing MBBS – who was an infantry officer who deployed to East Timor as a Company Second-in-Command, to the Solomon Islands as an Adjutant and to Afghanistan as a Combat Team Commander and then chose to follow a life-long dream of becoming a doctor.

On this week’s episode, we shift tact from the future of land warfare and history to talk through some more practical skills to help commanders and individuals negotiate the systems that enable recovery. While often misunderstood, the Military Employment Classification (MEC) System is not a medical system, it is a personnel system. It’s designed to put up a forcefield to enable an individual's rehabilitation, and most of the members that need to recover from injury return to a deployable MEC status on completion. Medical Officers and those that provide healthcare to ADF members make recommendations; however, they do not make decisions on an individual’s MEC status. Once a member is reclassified to a different MEC status, they should be presented at an Individual Welfare Board and then at regular Unit Welfare Boards to ensure that the member’s rehabilitation is on-track and that they are receiving the support that they need.

An Individual Welfare Board is more encompassing and held ad-hoc to consider all relevant information regarding the support to a member and their family. A Unit Welfare Board considers the need of all members within a unit and are commonly held quarterly. Welfare Boards are not just conducted for a member undergoing medical rehabilitation or recovery, they can also be conducted for complex personal issues; or, for those being investigated for, and/or charged with, a serious offence. Both types of Welfare Boards are designed to provide subject matter expert advice to the chain of command to ensure that the correct support is being provided to achieve the best possible outcome for the member and their family.

This episode contains the practical skills to negotiate the MEC System, to get the best outcome for the members that we support and to return to fighting fit. If you have civilian dependants, sign up for the ADF Family Health Program to be eligible for unlimited GP visits and $800 per dependant in family benefit for other services. Find more details at https://adffamilyhealth.com/.

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